Shepherd's Loch

9.1 9 reviews

Otter's round window affords lovely views across the loch (added by manager 29 May 2022)

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1/8

Bespoke glamping huts on a working farm in rural Aberdeenshire
A 15-minute drive to the beach; 45 minutes to the Malt Whisky Trail
Trout fishing, kids' play area, kayaks and zipwire on site

The emphasis is very much on high-end sustainability at Shepherd’s Loch, an off-grid rural site tucked away in Aberdeenshire countryside on Mid Clochforbie livestock farm. The top-quality boho lodges all have a distinctive decor and are powered by a hand-built water wheel that converts energy into electricity. Families, friends and cosy couples, yes, you’re all spoiled with the bijou accommodation here – but it doesn’t stop at that. There’s also the smashing location, within a 15-minute drive of the fabulous Banffshire and Moray coastline, which has several secluded, sandy beaches like Banff Links (20 minutes), where you can poke about in the rockpools, or Sunnyside (30 minutes), where you can also walk to the clifftop ruins of Findlater Castle. Back at base camp, guests can fish in any of the five man-made lochs dotted across the site, and the owners will supply fly rods or spinners at no extra cost. In the evening, you can meet up with other guests around the firepit and swap stories of your day’s adventures, or stick to your own company in your natty little pod – the choice is very much yours. If you’d rather head out to eat, there are seafood restaurants in the fishing village of Whitehills (20 minutes) and comfort food at the harbourside pub in Gardenstown (10 minutes).

Site type

Languages spoken

English

Features

Dogs allowed

Campfires allowed

Leisure on site

Bar or club house

Cycle hire

Evening entertainment

Fishing

Fitness centre

Games room

Hot tub

Indoor swimming pool

Kids' club

On-site restaurant/cafe

Outdoor swimming pool

Play area

TV room

Take away

Tennis

Watersports

Amenities on site

Bath available

Car parking by pitch/unit

Composting toilet

Disabled facilities

Dog park

Drying room

Food shop

Free wifi

Ice pack freezing

Internet access

Launderette

Parent & baby washroom

Pick-up from public transport

Portable toilet

Pub toilets

Public telephone

Shower available

Toilet block

Washing-up area

Wifi

Groups welcome

Family friendly

Motorcycle friendly

Single-sex groups welcome

Student groups welcome

Rules

Barbecue provided

Barbecues allowed

Campfires allowed

Commercial vehicles allowed

Dogs allowed

Dogs allowed all year

Themes

Forest

Lake and/or mountain

Peaceful

Spectacular scenery

Walkers' paradise

Wildlife haven

Utilities

Charging facilities

Chemical disposal

Electric car charging point(s)

Gas cylinders available

Recycling available

Renewable energy

Nearby amenities

Bar nearby

Dog walk nearby

Nearby farmers' market

Shop nearby

Type

Farm

Tiny (1-10 pitches)

Nearby leisure

Canoeing/kayaking nearby

Climbing nearby

Cycling nearby

Fishing nearby

Golf nearby

Horse riding nearby

Indoor pool nearby

Leisure/theme park nearby

Mountain biking nearby

Restaurant nearby

Sailing nearby

Tennis nearby

Watersports nearby

Location

Shepherd's Loch

Mid Clochforbie

Fisherie

Turriff

Aberdeenshire

Scotland

AB53 5SN

Directions

Timezone

Europe/London BST (GMT+01:00)

GPS

57.61724°N
-2.33756°W

Route directions

The best way to get here is to drive through Mid Clochforbie Farm (AB53 5SN) and follow signs to the site.

Nearest transport

Rail

20.2 mi Huntly Rail Station

22 mi Insch Rail Station

22.9 mi Inverurie Rail Station

Airport

29.2 mi Aberdeen Airport

Please note: All distances on this page are calculated "as the crow flies" - please check actual distance depending on your mode of travel using the Get directions button above.

Local attractions

If you can drag yourself away from this gorgeous spot, why not sample a couple of drams of finest single malt at distilleries on the Malt Whisky Trail – Chivas Bros (45 minutes’ drive) is the closest to Shepherd’s Loch. If history is more up your street, great stately homes (and ruins) on Scotland's Castle Trail include Castle Fraser, Garden and Estate (an hour). It’s probably first stop the beach for the kids, and Cullykhan Bay (10 minutes) is a peaceful North Sea beach in a cove with caves to explore. You’re almost guaranteed to see dolphins at WDC Scottish Dolphin Centre (55 minutes), but should it rain the octopuses and jellyfish at Macduff Marine Aquarium (15 minutes) are almost as entertaining. For more outdoor antics, you can go horse riding (35 minutes) across the glen, or kayaking in Moray (an hour) – and with several links courses close by at Banff, you might like to give golf (15 minutes) a go too.

Water quality at nearby bathing waters

Name	Distance	Type	2020	2019	2018	2017
Inverboyndie	8.8 mi	Sea	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Rosehearty	10.3 mi	Sea	N/A	Excellent	Good	Good
Fraserburgh (Tiger Hill)	13.5 mi	Sea	N/A	Good	N/A	N/A
Fraserburgh (Philorth)	14.4 mi	Sea	N/A	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
Cullen Bay	19.4 mi	Sea	N/A	Good	N/A	N/A

Data source: European Environment Agency

Must see

Carnegie Museum 23 mi

Cycle routes

Find local routes on the National Cycle Network - over 12,000 miles of cycling routes.

Other

TROUP HEAD (CURRENT BOUNDARY FROM 28/11/2005) 5.4 mi

Banff - Bridge of Alvah Circular 7.4 mi

Portsoy - Sandend Circular 13.9 mi

LOCH OF STRATHBEG (CURRENT BOUNDARY FROM 31/05/2002) 16.7 mi

Cullen - Logie Head - Findlater Castle - Sandend 18.4 mi

Please note: All distances on this page are calculated "as the crow flies" - please check actual distance depending on your mode of travel using the Get directions button above.

Reviews

would recommend this site to a friend

would stay here again

88%
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1

Only showing reviews for the last 30 months.

Location ,fishing…

Overall	2/10
Location	8
Value for money	2
Accommodation	2
Facilities / Activities	8
Customer service	4
Child friendliness	6
Cleanliness	4
Wifi	No rating

Anonymous Oct 2023

Graham's Bothy 1 bedroom microlodge (hot tub)

Liked: Location ,fishing

Disliked: Bathroom floor water leaking make floor always wet , fire wood provided-only for one heat and same of the logs will not fit into the log burner::( no firewood for hot tub even u pay extra for the stay, fishing only allowed in top lake not all five as it’s says on advertisement, booked for 3 nights only stay 2 as it’s not what’s it’s saying on, travel 500 miles to be disappointed after,half of the kids staff broken the it’s definitely not 10/10 where it’s on review?

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: We were disappointed to hear you had a negative experience and felt you had to leave early. We will review our information on the booking site to ensure everything is accurate and up to date. Unfortunately the recent extreme weather has taken it's toll on the site and we will have a close look at the leaky floor. We will also look closely at your other comments and take any action we feel necessary.

Clean, well organised site with quirky properties to enjoy!

Overall	10/10
Location	10
Value for money	10
Accommodation	10
Facilities / Activities	10
Customer service	10
Child friendliness	10
Cleanliness	10
Wifi	No rating

Gemma S. Jun 2023

Graham's Bothy 1 bedroom microlodge (hot tub)

Liked: We loved every part of our stay! Grahams Bothy was cosy, clean and welcoming. The hot tub was awesome and a lovely treat for us! The amenities such as the park, go carts and wee shop we are fantastic and we had an amazing time on the loch fishing and boating! We will be back!

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Thank you so much for your lovely review. We are delighted you enjoyed your time with us and appreciated what the site had to offer.

The site was perfect, well spread out, the ponds were lovely, great…

Overall	10/10
Location	10
Value for money	10
Accommodation	10
Facilities / Activities	10
Customer service	10
Child friendliness	10
Cleanliness	10
Wifi	No rating

Elna B. Apr 2023

Graham's Bothy 1 bedroom microlodge (hot tub)

Liked: The site was perfect, well spread out, the ponds were lovely, great settings, the hosts were great and answered any questions, we will defo be back

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Thank you so much for your lovely review. We value guests' feedback. We look forward to welcoming you back.

We loved the place and the people. Everyone at the farm was…

Overall	10/10
Location	10
Value for money	8
Accommodation	8
Facilities / Activities	10
Customer service	10
Child friendliness	10
Cleanliness	10
Wifi	2

YVONNE M. Apr 2023

Otter Hobbit House 1 bedroom microlodge

Liked: We loved the place and the people. Everyone at the farm was so welcoming and kind. My grandaughter loved being allowed to "help" with herding the sheep and feeding the lambs. We kayaked up the top loch and went croc hunting in the bottom one. Her favourite was the flying-fox zip slide over the water outside our wee hobbit house.

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Thank you for your review - we are delighted your granddaughter had such a lovely time. We pride ourselves on being a site for families.

Amazing place

Overall	10/10
Location	10
Value for money	10
Accommodation	10
Facilities / Activities	10
Customer service	10
Child friendliness	No rating
Cleanliness	10
Wifi	No rating

MARIA W. Apr 2023

Dragonfly 1 bedroom cabin

Liked: 10 out of 5. Loved it there. Original and interesting place to stay. So quiet and relaxing place. Lots to see around. Owner such a nice friendly guy. We will be back.

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: We are delighted with your lovely review and look forward to welcoming you back.

Beautiful site, well maintained

Overall	10/10
Location	10
Value for money	10
Accommodation	10
Facilities / Activities	10
Customer service	10
Child friendliness	10
Cleanliness	10
Wifi	10

Erica C. Oct 2022

Dragonfly 1 bedroom cabin

Liked: We loved our stay, staff were very helpful and cheerful. Clean lodges, lots of facilities. Site over all was really relaxing and well managed will definitely be back.

Recommend to friends Visit again

We had a brilliant stay in Grahams Bothy. Jamie was brilliant. ⭐

Overall	10/10
Location	10
Value for money	10
Accommodation	10
Facilities / Activities	10
Customer service	10
Child friendliness	10
Cleanliness	10
Wifi	6

Fiona P. Aug 2022

Graham's Bothy 1 bedroom microlodge (hot tub)

Liked: Facilities, accommodation, owners

Recommend to friends Visit again

A must go for all seeking amazing memories.

Overall	10/10
Location	10
Value for money	10
Accommodation	10
Facilities / Activities	10
Customer service	10
Child friendliness	10
Cleanliness	10
Wifi	No rating

Anonymous Aug 2022

The Wheel House 1 bedroom cabin

Liked: Hands down the most enjoyable glamping experience yet, after a long trip up from Manchester there was nothing that needed doing, show up and let the kids loose...bedding provided and nothing to set up, it was a really easy experience for me as I have 8-year-old twins and I am a single Dad. The most enjoyable part of the stay besides the total freedom to explore places like the communal outbuildings and lochs was the attention that Jamie showed to all the kids that where on site, ranging from sheep Hearding to rides around in the open top Landrover Defender hunting for the crocodile (Fake) and even gathering the kids to watch him take Shadow the horse for a dip in the loch (will include pics). All this why working the busy 400-acre farm. Even with us living so far away I would 100% revisit and recommend Shepherds Loch!

Disliked: NOTHING!

Recommend to friends Visit again

Lovely place, close to nature. Will come back for sure!

Overall	10/10
Location	10
Value for money	10
Accommodation	10
Facilities / Activities	10
Customer service	10
Child friendliness	10
Cleanliness	10
Wifi	No rating

Kasia S. Apr 2022

Graham's Bothy 1 bedroom microlodge (hot tub)

Liked: Loved it, kids wanted to move in forever! Perfect for familytime, out of big cities. Great place to take rest and chill. You will find everything what you need here. Staff very friendly and helpful. Warm welcome.

Recommend to friends Visit again

From the manager: Thank you for your review. It is always great to receive good feedback. We hope to see you sometime in the future. The team at Shepherd's Loch.

Does Shepherd's Loch have a swimming pool? No View all features
Is Shepherd's Loch dog friendly? Yes View all features
What attractions are near Shepherd's Loch? If you can drag yourself away from this gorgeous spot, why not sample a couple of drams of finest single malt at distilleries on the Malt Whisky Trail – Chivas Bros (45 … Read more